Improvement in processes of lasting the uppers of boots and shoes



G. W. COPELAND. Process of Lasting the Uppers'of Bdots' and Shoes.

No. 219,224. Patented Sept. 2,1879.

WITNEEEEE- LNVENTUI 2.4; w'f I N.PETERS. PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON.D, C

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

GEORGE w. COPELAND, or MALDEN, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE COPELANDLASTING MACHINE COMPANY, O HARTFORD, OONNEOTIO UT.

IMPROVEMENT IN PROCESSES 0F LASTING THE UPPERS 0F BOOTS AND SHOES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 219,224, datedSeptember 2, 1879; application filed December 16, 1878.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE W. COPELAND, of Malden, in the county ofMiddlesex and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented anImprovementin the Processes of Lasting the Uppers of Boots and Shoes, ofwhich the following is a specification.

In the operation of lasting the uppers of boots and shoes by organizedmachinery which combines side-lasting mechanism with toe and heellasting devices, there is generally a section between the side-lastingmechanism and the toe and heel lasting devices which is not directlyoperated upon by either. Take, for instance, the Patents Nos. 197,607,granted November 27, 187 7, and Reissue 8,138, granted March 26, 1878,to the Copeland Lasting Machine Company. "In both these machines thereis shown side-lasting mechanism which operates to automatically adjustthe upper along the sides of the last, and to automatically fold themargin along the sides upon the surface of the insole; also, toe andheel lasting mechanism which adjust the upper to the surface of the lastat the toe and heel and fold the margin of the upper upon the insole;but in these machines, as well as in all the other organized lasting'nachines with which I am acquainted, that portion of the upper whichlies between the devices which side-last and the devices which last thetoe and heel, comprising a very narrow portion of the upper at each endof the side-lasting devices near the toe and heel, is not operated uponby either the side-lasting or the toe or heel lasting contrivance.

The toe and heel lasting mechanism may abut against the respective endsof the sidelasting devices, and in fact so nearly approach them thatvery narrow portions of the upper are untouched; but I have ascertained,after attempting to so nicely adjust the construction and operation ofthese side and end lasting appliances that they shall work conjointlywith hardlyappreciable space between their adjacent edges, that it isvery difficult to prevent the puckering or wrinkling of the upper uponthe last between them during the process of lasting, particularly alongthe separating-line at the toe, and that in order toavoid this defect itis necessary to follow substantially the following process, whereby thatportion of the upper along said separatinglines which divide the toe andheel from the side lasting devices not directly operated upon by eithermay, alike withthe remainder of the upper, be subjected to themanipulations of lasting devices which need not act conjointly or formparts of the same organized machine.

The steps in the process are substantially these The insole and upperhaving been properly placed upon the last in the customary way, the sameis put into a machine having side-lasting devices like those describedin the patents referred to, or employing any of the known appliances foradjusting the upper to the under and side surfaces of a last, and forfolding the margin of the upper along the sides upon the surface of theinsole, when the margin thus folded issecured to the insole.

For the performance of the side lasting, it

is desirable to employ devices that shall last as much of the upper aspossible, leaving un lasted only such portions of the toe and heel, orat the toe only, (as in some instances the heel part can be fitted andsecured without directly operating upon that portion of the upper alongthe dividing-line between the side and heel lasting mechanisms,) .ascannot be perfectly adjusted thereby. The side-lasting mechanism is nextremoved from the sides of the last. The remaining portion of the up perat the toe, and, when necessary at the heel, is then adjusted to the endof the last, and the margin folded upon the insole by mechanism such asdescribed in said patents for lasting the toe or heel, or otherwiseknown, with this modification, that the portion of the upper acted uponby these devices must include the portion adjacent to each edge of theside lasting devices which, as above stated, is not directly operatedupon when the side and toe and heel lasting devices are operated in thecustomary way, as well as so much of the upper already lasted by the direct action of the side-lasting mechanism extending from the saidseparating-line as shall be necessary to perfectly adjust the remainingunfitted portion of the upper to the lastthat is, thetoe, and, whennecessary, the heel, lasting mechanism, instead of operating onlypreviously lasted by the side-lasting mech-- anism, as well as upon theintermediary section heretofore not directly operated upon by either.

In the drawings forming a part of this specification is illustrated, inFigure 1. an upper as lasted by organized machines, in which theintermediary sections between the side and toe and heel lastingmechanisms not directly acted upon are shown at a. The width of thesesections, of course, depends upon the precision and skill with which theend and side lasting devices are adjusted to operate conj ointly. At b,Figs. 1, 3, and 4, is shown the common effect resulting from thenecessarily imperfect operation of the lasting devices upon th esesections. The upper is shown as puffed or wrinkled, as the side-lastingmechanism tends to stretch the upper lengthwise of the last toward thetoe and heel as it operates, and the toe and heel lasting devicesoperate to stretch the upper in a contrary direction, thereby creatingthis fullness between the respective mechanisms.

In Fig. 2 is shown an upper which is adjusted upon the last by theemployment of the process herein described, showing at dotted lines 0the sections which are not directly operated upon by the side-lasting orheel or toe lasting appliances in organized machines, and by the lines dthe extent of lap of the toe and heel lasting devices upon that portionof the upper already lasted by the side-lastin g appliances, or the lapof the side-lasting appliances upon that portion of the upper, ifpreviously lasted by the toe and heel lasting appliances, the spacebetween the lines d representing the extent of lap, and representingvery nearly that section of the upper not directly operated upon in thepresent system of lasting by maehinery.

It will therefore be seen that the process consists, first, in theadjustment of the upper to the sides of the last, and sometimes at theheel, in folding the margin of that portion of the upper thus adjustedupon the insole, and in securing the same thereto; second, the re movalof the side-lastin g devices from the sides of the last; third, theadjustment of the remaining unlasted portion or portions of the upper tothe last, and the folding of the upper upon the insole by lastingappliances which shall overlap upon the portion previously lasted, andthe securing of said margin to the insole.

Bythe use of this process, therefore, certain defects in the lasting ofuppers by machines as at present organized and operated are overcome. Itmay also be mentioned that it renders that nice adjustment of the partsin organized machines upon which depends the possibility of securingeven a fair result in lasting, and which demands that the toe and heeland side lasting devices should conjoint] y operate so accurately as notto develop a puff between the respective devices unnecessary, therebyeffecting a considerable saving in the cost of producing lastingmachinery, simplifying the construction, and effecting a provision forautomatic adjustment for varying lengths of last.

[n practicing this process it is immaterial whether the ordinaryside-lastin g devices are extended so as to lap 'upon that section ofthe upper lasted by the toe and heel lasting devices as now organized,or. whether the toe and heel lasting appliances are extended so as tolap upon those portions of the upper lasted by unextended side-lastingmechanism. The same result follows whichever adaptation is employed; andalthough I consider that it is desirable to first last the sides of theupper and then withdraw the side-lasting devices, in order that thetoe-lasting appliances may be actuated and overlap the adjacent edgesalready lasted by the side-lasting mechanism, yet itis possible toactuate the toe and heel lasting devices alone, and finish the lastingof that portion of the upper and withdraw said lasting appliances beforethe side-lasting mechanism is operated, in which case, of course, thesidelasting devices would overlap upon the portions of the upperpreviously fitted by the toe or heel lasting devices, or both.

it will be not-iced that the process of lasting herein described has,perhaps, an incidental resemblance to a practice of hand-lasters, who doa second time what they find was badly done at their first operation;but this is an incident of their operation. The place of repetition intheir work is not determined in advance and the work systematically donetwice every time; nor in hand-lasting, where the successive strains areapplied to the leather at short distances apart, gaining a completelasting enough only for the placing of a single tack, and repeating thestrain at the time when and place where an imperfection is discovered,is there any such underlying principle of work as in this operation ofmine. I group together, for the purposes of strain, adjacent sect-ionsof the upper. I apply the strain to fit the leather to the last sectionby section, carefully doing twice over the parts of each sectionadjacent to its boundaries. I propose to do this'by organized mechanismalready invented and patented, and it is this method of the use of themechanism, not as was proposed when it was made originally, but in a newway, to avoid a defect of the old way, that constitutes the presentimprovement. In the old way the parts of the mechanism were broughtsuccessively to position, and there held till the other parts had beenbrought to their position, and the fastening was then performed. In thispresent method the parts of the mechanism are brought to positionsuccessively; but the fastening is done upon the section lasted'by eachpart, and that part is taken out of work before another part is broughtup to strain the next adjacent section of the upper, and the work ofthis succeeding part of the mechanism is not confined to the completelyunlasted portion of the upper, but extends to the adjacent area "alreadylasted.

Having thus fully described myinvention, I

the upper over upon the insole, and in ,securing such section orsections thereto, then withdrawing such devices, and folding or turningthe remaining section or sections over upon the insole by other lastingdevices in such manner that they overlap upon the edge of the surface ofthe adjacent section, so that the edge of one section adjacent to thatof another section'is twice strained to the last, once by each of theadjacently operated straining mechanisms, substantially as and for thepurposes set forth.

' GEO. W. COPELAND. Witnesses:

F. F. RAYMOND, 2d, A; J. OETTINGER.

